Consumers don't care how content is delivered, according to the latest PwC Entertainment and Media outlook, what they value is flexibility.
The report projects that global advertising revenues are poised to rise by 4.7% by 2019, outpacing consumer spending by 2.9% in the next five years.
Figures have not as yet been broken out on a territory-by-territory basis, but the incremental growth suggests the business is in line for a slight improvement, particularly in Australia where Nielsen figures issued earlier this year show that, with the exception of outdoor and online, the business has been flat for the past three years.
As expected, PwC suggests that digital will continue its upward trajectory, while other formats will show solid resilience.
Global digital advertising revenue will rise at a 12.2% against just 1.2% for non-digital. However, PwC says that non-digital will still contribute to more than 60% of global ad spend in 2019.
Digital advertising as a whole, meanwhile - including digital out-of-home - will more than double on figures issued five years ago. By 2019, it will account for 38.7% of total global advertising revenue, up from 16.6% in 2010.
Mobile internet advertising will surge 23.1% in 2019, overtaking display internet advertising globally in three years’ time (2018).
It will also supplant paid search in the US in 2016 as the leading Internet advertising category. And video advertising spend globally will rise at a CAGR of 19.5%, supported by a near-doubling of global smartphone connections to 3.85bn in 2019.
Over-the-top (OTT) video services will limit the US’s total broadcast TV advertising revenue to just 2.5% growth in 2019.
“What’s emerging,” says the report, “is an environment where consumers regard any distinction between ‘digital’ and ‘non-digital’ as irrelevant.”
A key feature of this multi-channel environment is the resilience—and in some cases resurgence—of aspects of ‘traditional’ media, including the shared, live experiences that consumers still love.
Spending on live music ticket sales and cinema box office will rise at a combined global rate of 4.7% to 2019, outpacing overall consumer spending at 2.9%. In China, box office revenues will grow by 15.5% for example.
Email Nicola at nicolariches@yaffa.com.au.